It is known to use electrically conductive paving mixtures as part of a pavement system to prevent the accumulation of frozen precipitation by use of electrically-generated heat.
In our prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,171, an electrically conductive paving system is disclosed that comprises a grid of electrically conductive cables, a layer of electrically conductive paving mixture, an electrical power supply, and a monitoring system. The paving mixture comprises an aggregate fraction, a bituminous fraction, and a fraction of blended graphite particles, the graphite particles including a naturally-occurring portion and a synthetically-produced portion in a ratio of 2:1.
The paving mixture of the prior patent was designed to have sufficient stability and strength for use on airport runways. This required compromising the conductivity characteristics of the paving mixture in order to achieve sufficient stability and strength. If the electrically conductive paving is to be used in a less demanding environment, such as pedestrian walkways or lightly-traveled roadways, the stability/strength requirements of the pavement becomes less constraining.